United States President Barack Obama hopes "cooler heads" will be the guiding force in the choosing the Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Reports claim that the White House is now interviewing five people for the aforementioned spot.
According to Reuters, Obama expressed his hopes on Wednesday. The Republican-led Senate will be the ones interviewing the Supreme Court nominees and they are firm that they will not be processing anyone from Obama's picks. The president talked about this during a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He pointed out that he hopes people should reflect on "what's at stake here once a nomination is made."
The Republicans said they will not hold a confirmation hearing or an up-or-down vote regarding the picks of Obama, noting that the choice should come from the next president, who will be taking office by January 2017, after the November 8 presidential elections.
Despite the Republican-led Senate's statement, Obama and his team are interviewing five candidates. They are reportedly judges Sri Srinivasan, Jane Kelly, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Paul Watford and Merrick Garland, CNBC reported. There is, however, no confirmation about this yet.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel will be handling the Supreme Court nomination, also accused the Democrats of using the process to score more political points. Grassley claimed that a nominee submitted in the middle of a presidential campaign will not be confirmed. However, under the U.S. Constitution, the president is allowed to select a Supreme Court nominee and the Senate will either confirm or reject, Daily Star reported.
Obama added that he will do his job and it is up to the Senate to "decide whether they want to follow the Constitution and abide by the rule of fair play." U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer echoed Obama's statements saying they are optimistic the Republicans will see the light on the issue.
